Life After Legend
by Fawkes07
Summary: The teen years of Rose Weasley and her rather strange friendship--or so she would like to think--with Scorpius Malfoy... starts at the end of the epilogue in book 7 and goes to wherever it shall end


Rose Weasley climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express for the first time in her life with trepidation. The train started to move, slowly, and she felt her heart jump to her throat. _Wait! I don't want to go anymore! Wait!_

She nearly cried out in panic, but before she could, her black haired cousin turned to her and said in a slightly trembling voice, "Come on, let's go find somewhere to sit."

"Okay", she agreed anxiously.

_I can't lose my head now, I'm all alone, and besides, Aunt Ginny told me to look out for Albus incase James doesn't_, thought Rose.

"Hey, there's not many people in here, said Albus, and they peeked nervously into the doorway of the very last compartment.

There were only three people in it: a blond boy with a pointed face, a girl with long black hair and a haughty expression, and another small boy with shoulder length hair that was hanging down in dreadlocks. The first two were sitting together, whispering rapidly, and the last was sitting as far away from them as possible, and curled up in the corner, was scribbling frantically on a book of parchment. When Rose and Al entered, he looked up eagerly, and grinned at them as they sat down. Rose smiled tentatively to him, and he said, "Hi. I'm Alex Finnigan."

"I'm Rose Weasley. And this is Albus Potter, my cousin."

"Hi" said Albus, grinning at Alex.

"Hey, you're Harry Potter's son!" exclaimed Alex.

"Yeah," said Albus, with a slightly exasperated look on his face.

"My uncle knows him. Seamus Finnigan."

"Oh hey! My dad knows him too! They went to school together didn't they?"

"Yeah! He works for the Ministry, with the Magical Sports and Recreation Department in Ireland. Says that the Irish team's going to make the World Cup again for the first time since his years at Hogwarts!"

"D'you think so?" asked Albus excitedly, and then the two boys fell into an intense discussion on the Irish's chances against Argentina, the other favorite for the Cup.

Rose looked to the blond boy whom she was sitting next to, bored by constant talk of Quidditch (between her dad and all her uncles, Quidditch was a staple in all the family dinners' conversations, and she was rather sick of it). The boy and his companion had fallen silent at their entrance, watching the exchange between Rose, Albus and Alex. "Hey I know who you are," said Rose suddenly, "you're Scorpius Malfoy."

"Yeah. So?"

"Well I just recognized you", said Rose, taken aback.

Then her brow furrowed. "You don't have to be so rude about it."

"How do you know me?" asked Scorpius, ignoring her last statement.

"My dad knows your dad, they used to…know each other in Hogwarts", said Rose, suddenly embarrassed.

What was she supposed to say to the boy whose father had been her father's archenemy back in school? "Yeah, I've heard," said Scorpius, rolling his eyes.

Rose felt her cheeks heat up. "What's your name?" she asked the girl sitting across from Scorpius, to cover up the moment.

"I'm Julia Flint" she said, the haughty expression still on her face.

She had been watching her exchange with Scorpius with a small smirk on her face, but now it disappeared. "Good to meet you" ventured Rose, her cheeks flushing up even more.

"Yeah, whatever", said Julia, the smirk slinking back on her face.

"Well, I'm leaving", she announced suddenly. "I told Serena Goyle I'd meet her by the prefect's compartment soon. Are you coming?" she said, looking pointedly at Scorpius.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming", said Scorpius, looking relieved.

The two of them stood and stalked out of the compartment. When they were gone, Alex breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!" he exclaimed, "I was getting creeped out by them. If anyone's a Slytherin, it's those two."

Albus nodded his head vigorously. Rose hung her head; she was rather put out that her very second attempt at making friends had failed so spectacularly. "Don't worry about it, Rose", said Albus consolingly, "We're better off without them anyway. Besides, we'll find plenty of better people once we're sorted."

_The Sorting_. Albus's words, far from consoling Rose, made her even more nervous. Alex, however, seemed to be excited at the propect. "Wouldn't it be cool if we all ended up in the same house?" he said.

"Yeah, it would. I hope it's Gryffindor," said Albus, just as excitedly.

Rose shot a suspicious look at him; just before they had boarded the train, he had confessed to her just how scared he was about the sorting, and she had whispered that she felt exactly the same way. Being the offspring of the Golden Trio was no picnic, after all: it put a great deal of pressure on them to end up in respectable houses at Hogwarts, and even though both her parents had told her that it didn't matter what house she was in, she knew as well as anyone that they thought it would be great if she and Albus were in Gryffindor. When Rose met Albus's eyes, however, he just grinned at her and turned back to Alex.

In her silence, the boys had gone back to discussing Quidditch, and Rose grew bored with every minute. Finally, when Alex was in the middle of describing in great detail the save that he had made the other day, she exclaimed, "I'm going to try and find Roxanne or Victoire, okay?"

The boys looked around in surprise, and then Albus said, "Okay, sure," and turned back to Alex. Close to tears with indignation, Rose stalked out of the compartment just as Scorpius and Julia had. The moment the thought occurred to her, she became engulfed with fear at the prospect that she was alike to the two obviously Slytherin people, and the tears started pouring down her cheeks. She wandered for a while down the long and deserted corridor, and then plopped down on the floor and drew her knees toward her chest, and buried her head in her arms. She sat there for a while, feeling lonely, and then all of a sudden the compartment door that she'd been leaning against burst open, springing her to her feet. She looked up fearfully, and then nearly collapsed with relief at the sight of a familiar face.

"Rosie?! What are you doing out here by yourself?" demanded Roxanne Weasley.

Rose simply looked up at her cousin, her bottom lip trembling, and then was engulfed in Roxanne's arms. "Oh, sweetie, what happened?"

"I have no one to talk to!" she mumbled miserably.

"Sure you do, there're plenty of other first years on the train" said Roxanne gently.

"Yeah but they're all either Slytherins or obsessed with Quidditch!"

"Don't worry about it, you'll find someone soon enough" said Roxanne, hugging her again. "In the meantime, you can come with me and help me with rounds."

"What are rounds?"

"It's just a prefect duty. My shift is about to begin just this minute. Come on, come with me, and I'll tell you what it's like to be prefect. All Uncle Ron ever talks about is how you're going to be prefect later on anyway, so you might as well start now!" she said with a smile.

Rose gave a watery smile, and then followed her cousin down the corridor.

The two walked down to the very front of the train, and then started back down again. Once in a while, Roxanne would knock on a door and then open it if the people inside sounded like they were up to some trouble, but mostly it was nothing. By the time they approached the back of the train, Rose was quite as happy as she'd ever been.

"You're all better now, right?" asked Roxanne, sounding uncertain, as they neared the cabin where her other sixth year friends were.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Rose rather sheepishly.

"Good", grinned Roxanne, "So I'll see you at dinner then?"

"Sure. See ya!" said Rose, and watched as Roxanne smiled again and disappeared into the cabin. Suddenly she was all too alone, and she stared down at her toes. _Maybe I should go in there too, and stay with Roxy for the rest of the time_, she thought tentatively.

Suddenly, however, she had a fit of bravery and walked over to the next compartment and let herself in. To her surprise, she found herself in the company of three other first year girls, two of whom were chatting animatedly. "Hi!" she said.

The girl closest to the door smiled first, and said, "Hi! I'm Tarali Faye".

Rose grinned. "I'm Rose Weasley".

Soon the four girls were talking amiably, and Rose found herself looking forward to Hogwarts more and more. Tarali was a short, bright-eyed young witch with dark hair and glasses. The girl sitting next to her, Aubrie Sumner, was funny and lively, and obsessed about Quidditch nearly as much as Albus did. The last of the three girls, who was sitting next to Rose, was called Greia, and no one, it seemed, knew what her last name was. She was shy, and hardly said anything, even though Rose tried her best to include her in their conversation.

Rose felt the hours flying by, and before long, Tarali was standing up and pulling down her trunk and taking out her new robes. The other girls copied her, and Rose suddenly remembered that her trunk was in the other cabin, with Albus and Alex. "I'll be right back" she promised, but once she mentioned that her cousin was in the other cabin, and that her cousin was in fact Harry Potter's son, they insisted on accompanying her.

"Ooohh I want to come too!" burst out Greia, surprising everyone with her enthusiasm.

When everyone gazed at her in shock, however, she ducked her head and blushed. "Well all right," said Rose, talking fast to cover up the sticky moment, "come on then. We haven't got much time!"

"Right", said Aubrie, and bounced out of the compartment, the rest of the girls in tow.

When the girls entered the compartment, they found both of its occupants, Albus and Alex, fast asleep. "Awwwww, lookit", said Aubrie with a giggle, "He's cute!"

Rose looked at her cousin, with his glasses askew and his hair tousled horribly, and failed to see it. "If you say so…" she said doubtfully.

"Well you're his cousin. You can't think he's cute!"

"That's not true, Fred Weasley's my cousin and I think he's cute!"

"Really? Fred Weasley's friends with my sister! She thinks he's cute too!"

The two burst out giggling, and Tarali shook her head and said, "Will you two be quiet? They're sleeping!"

"Speaking of which," Rose said, and pounced on her cousin, yelling at the top of her lungs.

"AAARGH!" screamed Albus and promptly fell of the seat.

Aubrie burst once again into laughter, and by this time Alex had also woken up and was staring in surprise at the sudden crowd in their compartment. "Rooooseee!" whined Albus, sitting up and feeling around with hands, "Now I can't find my glasses!"

"Here're your glasses!" piped Aubrie, handing them to Albus.

Albus put them on and stared. "Who're you?" he asked after a few seconds.

Rose giggled. "This is Aubrey Sumner. And this is Tarali Faye. And this is Greia," she said.

"And you're Albus Potter!" burst out Greia, once again to the surprise of all the girls.

"Am I really?" he replied cheekily, and Greia fell silent again.

"Well, if you don't mind, I only came here to get my trunk", said Rose, pushing her way through the crowded compartment and pulling down her trunk.

"Here, I'll help," piped up Tarali, and soon the girls were out of the cabin again, leaving the two boys dumbstruck.

"Wait!" said Aubrie once they'd exited the compartment, and running back to the door and pressing her ear up against it, "Let's see what they think of us!"

Tarali and Greia immediately agreed, and hurried after Aubrie, and Rose, rolling her eyes, followed. When she got back to the door, however, she opened her trunk and pulled out several flesh colored pieces of string. "I have a better idea," she said, smirking.

The other girls dived upon the Extendable Ears, and stuffed them into their ears while Rose fed them under the door.

"…She would go and make friends with the strangest lot you could find", Albus was saying, disgruntled.

Rose giggled, but the rest of them looked slightly offended. "They weren't all that bad," said Alex amiably, "some of them were okay."

"Like who? The one who knocked me off the bloody seat, the one who stole my glasses, or the one who thought I didn't know who I was?"

At this, Greia turned a bright shade of red, and Rose shook her head crossly. "Don't mind him," she said, "he's just rude."

The rest of the train ride passed pleasantly and without incident, and soon they were all stepping off the train, and Hagrid was there, calling for the first years. They soon entered the castle, awestruck at its magnificence, and found a huge, walrus-like old man in their midst. He looked over their heads, and bumped into Albus. "Oh, excuse me James," he said, and then looked at him more closely, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry I mean Harry. Wait, no. Good lord, it's another one", and walked off looking apprehensive.

Rose and Albus looked at each and laughed. "Hey", said Albus, nudging Rose, "didn't they say that we'd meet McGonagall first?"

"Yeah, they did", replied Rose, also confused. "Maybe they've changed things around. McGonagall's the headmistress right? She probably has better things to do than take first years through the sorting."

"Yeah, probably," said Albus, and Rose saw straight through his cool act.

"Don't worry", she said. "Whatever happens, we'll still be cousins."

"Yeah. You're right," he said, straightening himself up, but Rose knew that actually being in the castle had brought back all of his nervousness about the Sorting.  
"Attention! Attention, first years, please!" called the walrus-like man. "My name is Professor Slughorn, and soon I'll be leading you to the Sorting ceremony, where you will be place in one of the four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Best of luck to you all!" he finished with a flourish, and opened the door to the Great Hall. The others filed in through the opening, wondering wide-eyed at the starry ceiling and the four long tables that were filled with students of all ages. Rose, however, suddenly felt as queasy as Albus looked, and didn't notice any of it.

The sorting was long and horrifying. Soon, Slughorn was calling the name, "Faye, Tarali", and Tarali was walking up to the aging hat looking apprehensive. In a moment, though, she was skipping over to the Gryffindor table amidst much applause. Rose grinned around at Greia, but Greia was looked like she was going to be sick. "Don't worry," said Rose comfortingly, "It'll turn out fine."

Greia did not seem comforted, however, and soon Rose found out why. "Grindelwald, Greia" announced Slughorn, and then his eyes widened as his eyes ran over this new name once again.

It was as though someone had put a Silencing spell on the hall, and Greia looked close to tears as she made her way to the hat. Rose was shocked. _Could Greia actually be related to Gellert Grindelwald? I didn't even think he had any remaining family!_ she thought feebly. She looked over at Albus, who was watching Greia with his mouth open. Suddenly she came to her senses and nudged him. "Close your mouth!" she hissed.

"Rose d'you know who that might _be_?" he asked in return.

"Yeah, but we can't judge anyone based on their bloodline" said Rose. "Look at Hagrid, look at…"

Her hopes were diminished, however, when the hat called out, "Slytherin!" and Greia walked down to the Slytherin table.

"Yeah that's not suspicious at all", said Albus sarcastically.

Rose stuck her tongue out.

Before long, "Malfoy, Scorpius" was sorted into Slytherin, and rushed off to join Julia Flint and Serena Goyle. Then, it was "Potter, Albus".

The room once again fell completely silent, and Rose heard Albus gulp audibly beside her. A few seconds later, he had not moved, and Rose nudged him with her elbow. He stumbled forward, looking slightly green, and every eye was upon him. He took a few steps and then seemed to lose his nerve; he stopped walking altogether and just stared back at the crowd before him. _I need to do something so that everyone stops staring at him_, thought Rose. Before she had thought of something sensible to do, however, she had yelled, in true Aunty Luna fashion, "Oh my god, it's a Crumple-Horned-Snorkack!" and pointed up at the see-through ceiling.

Eyes were averted, but since she was buried in the midst of all the first years and not everyone could see her pointing finger, everyone simply looked around. Rose took the moment to nudge Albus once more, and he gave her a grateful look and ran to the stool while the rest of the school was busy wondering what on earth had just happened. Professor Slughorn placed the hat on his head, looking flustered, and Albus's entire head disappeared underneath it. It took a while to decide, but then the rip that was its mouth had opened and it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

The hall was silent. Rose's jaw dropped, and she suddenly felt a clammy sort of horror swooping through her stomach. Then, miraculously (because she didn't think he'd be able to move a limb for at least another hour), Albus heaved a sigh, and lifted the ancient hat off of his head. He stood up, and looked around at the stunned hall, and suddenly, unexpectedly, he grinned. A minute later, he was seated with the other new first-year Slytherins (ironically, right next to Scorpius Malfoy), and the Sorting continued.

After a long wait, during which Aubrey Sumner also joined Gryffindor, and Rose merely looked at Victoire and Katie, who were sitting together among the Gryffindors, for comfort. Too soon, however, Slughorn read off her name, "Weasley, Rose", and, shaking, Rose walked up to the stool and sat down on it. The hat slid easily over her head. "Well, well. If it isn't another Weasley. You lot reproduce rather fast, don't you? Well, they all end up in the same place, anyway. GRYFFINDOR!"

"Thank you!" she whispered, before the hat was whisked off of her head and placed on "Zabini, Bellarie".

The sickly feeling that had clenched her stomach since Albus's sorting vanished, and it was with a relieved smile that she sat herself down next to Aubrey. The minute she had, however, and she was sure that she was in Gryffindor for the rest of her time at Hogwarts, she turned in her seat to look for Albus across the Hall, and she was surprised once again. She'd expected to see him sitting there quietly, or making tentative conversation, but instead, he was chatting amiably with another first year boy, and when turned and caught Rose's eye he grinned at her.

She turned around in her seat and settled herself, feeling oddly content, and the rest of the feast was pleasant: the food was excellent, nearly rivaling the cooking of the original Molly Weasley herself, Aubrey and Tara made for good company, and at the end of it, Roxanne let Rose walk with her as she led all of Gryffindor back to the Common Room behind the portrait hole.


End file.
